"Soviet armor color" Topic

I know theres no "correct" color. All sorts of different shades of green were used etc, etc. My question is what (specifically) is a good paint for soviet AFV's (not including lend lease which get olive drab.) All my armor has been painted just some various shade of model master enamel green: "field drab", "topside green", "russian armor green", etc and the finished vehicles don't exactly go together well.Every different manufacterer has its own list of recommened colors and so on. I was hoping others could give me some input on what would be a good color choice to stick with, as i have little experience with paints outside model master. Thx

Gunze has a well defined line of acrylics,modelmaster has their own series which are quite good.I personally mix my own paints and use colour swatches to obtain results i see in existing colour photos. While lighting an scale are in question ,the issue really is fulfilling what expectations of your participant players.I have photos of t-34,s in model master russian green ,as well as a yellow-green ochre.On the cheap use testors olive drab mixed with 1/4 testors army olive.

Tamiya XF5 is my green of choice for Soviet vehicles.

Model Master Medium Green works well with the added advantage it is also available in a spray can (#1913).

I understand that heavy tanks were generally a somewhat darker shade than the light/mediums. I was using Vallejo Russian Green for the tanks, but will use that for the heavies and switch to the Russian Uniform for the lights/mediums. It is probably a little too light, but should work well anyway.

I do something simular Sundance but I do not think that the color is to light as I am using it with 3mm figures.

This is a very active subject in the publishing world, and now the Russian authors are finally chiming in, it seems we may have been painting our tanks too dark.

Most people will think of a dark forest green, because an American author (Zaloga) looked at a Russian tank at Aberdeen many years ago & took that color at face value. However the Russians are saying that the color grew darker over time, but fresher WW2 armor green was a more medium olive green.

The green on the Soviet T-34's at the war memorial in Berlin is a very pale, pastel green. The green on the Soviet tanks at the Karlshorst museum is a very dark, forest green.

What color film sources are there, if any?

Not to change the subjuct to much, but when you say mixing paints, how does that goes? Just mixing them together on some plastic, or mixing the colors in a jar to keep the color for more than one use? Im painting a t-34 1941 with Tamiya RLM Grey that i had been thinning with water, because it said acrylic, but now i find out i was supposed to be using alcohol. Not sure how im going to highlight the edges now. Will it mix with model master acrylics?

Actually Tamiya acrylics thin much better for airbrushing using their lacquer thinner instead of alcohol or even their acrylic thinner. Once you mix paints and thinner, of any type, you will find it becomes a bit unstable and usually isnt much good after a short period of time.

Color sources…there are a few color pics in various Signal mags. They aren't dark green.

But also, I wouldn't trust that Berlin T34 either. There's a pink T-55 in Prague. Get my drift?

I haven't painted any Soviet tanks in years and I've changed brands of paints long since. But I'd say Vallejo's Bronze Green would be acceptable, if a bit dark, especially for smaller scales. It could be the base coat with lots of a lighter shade dry-brushed over it.

Model Master medium Green is the way to go. You have it in enamel or acrylic.

my 2 cents ;)

Foundry has a new set of WWII paints – they have a Soviet Equipment green that seems about right (if my monitor is spot on that is)…
link

Here are the colors from Ritterkreig for micro armor (micro shades are a bit lighter to avoid hiding detail, so these could be darkened for larger models).

link

Of course they are also Humbrol enamels.

"But also, I wouldn't trust that Berlin T34 either. There's a pink T-55 in Prague. Get my drift?"

Yes -- the difference is that the Russian government was (at least initially) responsible for the monument and museums and has protected their existence. So this cranks it up a little bit on the credibility meter. Not definitive, but a data point.

I use Timaya Medium Green and then dry brush lighter greens with a wash and use pastel chalks to dust on dirt and such.

I also have used medium green and then added other greens to give it a different tint which works well for me. I use a airbrush to spray the Timaya paint on. It is alcohol based paint so it drys nice and flat (no build up)

You will have to dull coat the models because of the pastel chalk procedure though.

You can see some of the pictures here in the gallery section.

frontline-command.com

Hope that helps

What are the Frontline Command rules going to be like? 1:1? platoon stands? companies? battalions?

Frontline Command rules are 1:1

Infantry fire weapons from cc – short – med – long – extream ranges, the values are based roughly on hostorical averages of a man and the % of a hit being scored and then the type of hit.

Armor is also based on historical information, a gun penetrates X amount of armor at X range.

All armor has its own information that is very specific to the vehicle…

This way a Tiger is a Tiger and a Sherman is a Sherman.

It is a very fast paced gane, moves quickly.

Tusc, I hear what your saying, but that memorial was in W. Berlin. That would be mighty old original paint! :-)

Guys ,when airbrushing with acrylics always use alcohol as y
our thinner and add a drop or two (based on reservoir size) of windex ,it makes airbrush clean-up a breeze.